Hustler among Huntsmen
by Saint Danielle
Summary: When you steal millions from Vale's most wanted, you have to lay low. You can hide in a safe house. Or take the first flight out of the city. Or you could fake transcripts and hide among the future huntsmen and huntresses. Goodbye, Jaune Arc, the con man and hustler. Hello, Jaune Arc, the aspiring huntsman and loveable goofball! Yes, that would work just fine.


**Hello, guys! And welcome to my newest RWBY fanfic. I haven't written anything for this fandom for a while and think it's time to get back into it. Just a forewarning, this is the story of a different Jaune. Jaune who is both what his haters and fans thought him to be. Read and leave a review to keep me going. As you know, reviews are always nice as a motivator.**

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Remnant was an interesting mix between a fairy tale and a nightmare.

On the one hand, you had all the magical powers and Dust. Four Kingdoms with beautiful view and amazing tech. Not to mention the Huntsmen and Huntresses that dressed and fought like heroes of legends.

On the other hand, you had the deadly and countless Grimm. The same Kingdoms infested with criminals and other unpleasant people. Not to mention the constant tensions between them.

So how did you survive in Remnant, the sole purpose of which seemed to kill you?

You had to be strong.

The most common way to survive and prosper On Remnant was to be just physically strong. For all the jumps they made in technology and culture, lion's share of all four Kingdoms was dominated by those who could take and give a good beating. As long as you could do that, you would never go hungry or cold. Just always look out for someone stronger.

Of course, some people rose through their wits and brains. People like Jacques Schnee stood at the top of the world because they knew how to screw others without buying them dinner. They were the kind of people who could rob you blind and make you thank them for it. A nice way to live as long as you didn't grow too arrogant.

Though rare, there were those who relied on each other. A close group of people, working together to survive. A heartwarming reminder that sometimes you could trust others. And a cautionary tale of doing so if someone used such groups and left them to die.

And then there were people like Jaune.

They were useless. They were weak. They were abandoned and left behind because they were a burden.

But they were just too damn stubborn to just roll over and die.

So they did what the could with whatever means and skills they had. They scrapped by. They begged and grovelled. They threw away pride and dignity to earn another day to live. It wasn't great. But anything was better than just giving up and dying.

And who knew, one day, guys like him could get a break and strike it rich.

Sometimes though, they just bit more than they could chew and choked.

Working as a henchman for the infamous Roman Torchwick was just another way to pay rent and buy bread. He roughed up some people. Ran a couple of errands. And, like the others, did his best to look fascinated with the boss' antics and theatrics. The latter was probably the hardest part of the job.

He never planned to work for Torchwick for long though. The man again was too loud and flashy to throw in his lot with. He would always get away but none of his underlings ever did. When the self-proclaimed criminal mastermind stopped robbing places for Lien and focused solely on Dust, Jaune knew that it was time to bail. Whatever his client wanted with the giant piles of crystals, he wanted nothing with that.

Of course, he wasn't going to leave without taking his severance package. And since boss was too busy shaking up small shops for Dust, Jaune saw nothing wrong with taking it himself. He was careful about it. He played it smart and slow. Even Roman didn't notice Lien slowly leaking from his hidden accounts.

That psycho jailbait did though.

If it weren't for his Semblance, the girl would chop him up in seconds. Good thing he never revealed it to any of the gang. The surprise proved enough of distraction to let him escape with all his limbs in place. But even though he got away without a scratch or bruise, Jaune knew it was far from over. It wasn't just millions of Lien he had stolen from Roman.

It was the thief's reputation at stake. In their line of work, where you could trust few and rely on even fewer, reputation was the only thing that could keep some people in line and from bothering you.

Getting robbed could damage a thief's reputation quite a lot. Self-proclaimed master criminal getting robbed by a random thug hired a few months ago? Roman would end up a laughing stock among his fellow criminals. Roman had spent his entire life building the image of a ruthless and merciless master criminal. To have it ripped away by a small fish like Jaune was simply unacceptable.

So they would be looking for him.

They would use their wide network to hunt him down.

And then they would make an example of him. A forewarning for all who would even think to mess with Roman.

Luckily, Jaune wasn't new to falling off the grid. He stole before. He disappeared before. He was never caught. But nothing could last forever. If he wasn;t careful, his first time getting caught could end up his last as well.

Roman, for all his antics, was well-connected and had eyes all around the city. Some would try to win favor. Some would ask their own debts forgiven. Reagrdless of reason, many people, in both upper and lower parts of city, had something to gain from selling him out.

Hei 'Junior' Xiong was among the few who had no such interest. A powerful man in his own right with neither loyalty nor favors owed to Roman. He wouldn't be easy to negotiate with though. Guys like him had to be either be sweet talked or grabbed by the balls.

And it seemed some other blonde got ahead of him on that.

"People say you know everything." Junior wasn't weak. Even though these days he spent most of his time selling information and hiring boys out, he still was as strong as his broad frame implied. And yet the girl was handling him like some schoolboy. A huntress, most probably. Short-tempered one at that. "Tell me where I can find her and I'll let you go."

And wasn't that a perfect opportunity to get a favor out of Junior?

"Hey, miss," he approached her casually, masking any ill intent behind the carefree smile. With the same smile, he gently placed his hand on her shoulder. "I think the guy had enough. Why don't you let him do?"

He felt her Aura instantly. Her pool was vast but what surprised him more was how intense it was. It felt hot and alive. Just a moment away from bursting into flames and burning it all down. He wondered if he could absorb it all in one go. It was best not to test it out now. Something told him the girl's anger wasn't something pleasant to see.

"Don't worry about him," the girl smirked, unaware of her Aura slowly fading from her body. "I just need him to answer some of my questions. Trust me, I am leaving him and his boys in one piece. Mostly."

The implied threat didn't go unnoticed by the gathered thugs who were quick to pull out guns and blades. He hated shootouts. Too much noise. Too many ways to end up riddled with bullets. He needed just a few more minutes. "Trust me, blondie, you better leave before things get ugly."

The girl laughed.

"Hah!" she actually snorted at his warning. He knew he wasn't the most intimidating guy but this actually hurt. Was she that confident or did he look that harmless? "No offense, handsome, but I think you are overestimating yourself. So how about _you_ go before I make things ugly?"

Her eyes flashed red. Her Aura flared too.

"I would like to see you try."

She still had some Aura left, but making her fight him would drain her faster. And give him more chances to win a favor from the owner. "Don't say I didn't warn you," she tossed Junior away and grinned. "Hiyya!"

He stepped back, barely avoiding a heavy jab. The girl's didn't land but she used the momentum to spin kick him in the side. She wasn't fighting serious. Not really serious, at least. The bright yellow bracelets on her wists looked too heavy to not be weapons. She only wanted to scare him away, otherwisde she would have used them by now.

Another straight jab. This time, he ducked under it. The girl's smirk was quickly wiped off as he elbowed her in the face. "You better start taking me serious, lady."

She stumbled back, suprised but not hurt or afraid. A single golden hair fell from her head. Her eyes turned murderous.

"Raargh!" with a battle cry, the girl rushed him. She hit hard. She hit fast. Each and every punch was induced with Aura. Her could feel and almost see flames coming from the girl. Digging his heels into the floor, Jaune kept taking one hit after another. "Is that all you got?"

He had bigger pool of Aura. She was close to running out of hers. He could easily just wait till she threw the last punch and then be done with her.

Still, he was criminal. And criminals were petty and vengeful.

"You want to see my best? Well then," He grinned, channeling Aura all across his body. Letting it gather and grow. Letting it mix with the Aura he had stolen from the girl before. "Here you go!"

The surge of Aura burst forth from his body, hitting the girl point blank with itself. He could hear some of Junior's men scream and grunt in pain as the bright light blinded them. It seemed their sunglasses weren't of great quality either. Still, better take all out than go easy on the girl and regret it later.

"Urgh..." the blonde stood back up, her legs wobbly and posture shaky. He saw her Aura fizzle out and fade away. "Y-You... Bastard..."

The girl was unaware of it, seeing that the next thing she did was attack him with another war cry. She moved fast. Her punch was sharp and hard. If she still had some Aura left, he would be done for. Without it though, a nasty cracking sound was followed by the girl's scream, "Oww! What the hell?"

As the girl hissed in pain, looking at her broken arm, Jaune couldn't help but chuckle.

"Having some trouble?" Jaune asked, drinking in the girl's bewilderment. He would lie if he said he didn't enjoy it. Something about huntsmen and huntresses losing power always cheered him up. "As I said, you better leave before things get ugly."

He, of course, meant a pissed off Junior and the thugs he paid for beating up whoever bothered him. They were weak and their weapons were crap. But a girl with no Aura was hardly anything they would have problem taking out. Especially, since she was pretty much beaten already.

"You..." the girl glared at him before heading to the exit. "You are gonna pay for that."

With those words, the girl left. The roar of the engine outside and frustrated cry of profanities was the sign she was finally gone completely. "I sure will."

If this worked out, he would be in Mistral in a few months.

Once he knew Neo wouldn't skin him while he was buying a ticket for Bullhead ride.

As the crowd went back to partying, Jaune decided to check on Junior and his mood to negotiate a deal with him. He seemed to be in a good mood. "The hell are you doing here, Arc? I thought you would skip town by now?"

The man stood behind the counter and started fixing a drink.

"I guess, I just love the city too much," he returned. "What about you? Exploring the new sides of yourself? Searching for new kinks to try out? If you wanted to have your balls crashed by a pretty schoolgirl, I know a few places."

"Screw you, Arc," the man passed him a glass of Strawberry Sunrise. With one of those cute little umbrellas. "Damn, that Beacon brat just barged in and started asking for information. Kids these days got no idea how to treat others with respect."

Wise words from an enforcer and information broker. Not Jaune's place to judge though. Weapons trafficking and occasional protection racket, Junior was pretty much a law-abiding citizen. With a bazooka-bat under his counter.

"Good thing I swooped in to save the day," Jaune grinned. "Who knows, if not for me, that girl could make a real mess of your place, right? I mean, all the broken furniture and crushed balls. Any reward for saving your business and ensuring the Xion bloodline may one day continue?"

Junior frowned.

"What do you want?"

Jaune grinned.

"Well, since you are offering, I need a safe house and a new identity. Nothing too fancy though. I just need to lay low for a month or two while Roman blows his steam." he took another glass of berry drink. "I promise to pay you double if you keep this between us."

"Hmm," Junior hummed, obviously thinking how much he could demand from him. Jaune might have saved his ass but Junior was businessman first and never let a Lien escape his grasp easily. "I'll see what I can do. No promises since Roman put a pretty good reward for you though. You pissed him off bad, kid."

Yeah, sounded about right. Snide remarks aside, Junior was doing him a real solid here.

"So, think you can press charges against the girl?" he asked, changing the conversation to a more pleasant topic. "Make her pay for that little show she pulled?"

Junior scoffed as he made another drink, "As if I could. Her word against mine will definitely win. Throw in Ozpin and his reach, and I will be the one suffering for those charges. The man may be a headmaster but I could learn a trick or two from him."

"He is that protective of his students, huh?" Jaune felt some idea brewing in his head. Something he might not have quite understood yet. But something he definitely liked. "What, you crossed paths before?"

"Nah," the club owner shook his head. "But people talk. Hunters from Beacon always stick their noses in stuff they legally shouldn't. But time after time, Ozpin keeps them out of trouble. Some say it is to encourage learning in his students. I say it really lowers the morale amongst us, mere mortals."

Jaune could sympathize with that. He too heard about some students taking law in their hands and going gung-ho. It may have been all fun and games for them, but the public didn't like the idea of teenagers with superpowers running free and uncontrolled. Jaune briefly wondered if Ozpin would interfere if he let that blondie go berserk in the club. Would he make her face punishment for the assault?

Or hide her behind the school's walls with the other hunters like her?

Hiding one of his students...

"Hey, Junior," Jaune said, the idea taking form. "I want to change my order."

"You already drank those."

"Not that," he smirked. "I think I won't have problem with finding a safe house. But I need transcripts."

Junior raised an eyebrow, "Transcripts? What the hell for? You wanna get your GED or something?"

His grin grew, "Something like that."

He finished his drink.

"So where is your safe house going to be?"

The place where you wouldn't think to look for a small-time thug and thief. The place where he could get much needed training and weapons. The other students could be used as his own meat shields and bodyguards. And, if the worst to worst, he could rely on Ozpin to bail him out. It was simple. And it was just perfect.

"I am going to study at Beacon."

Jaune smiled victoriously.

Junior burst out laughing.

Roman could suck it.

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 **I know, I know, sinfully short. I hope it was enough to catch your attention though.**

 **As I said, this is Jaune both fans and haters imagine Jaune as. He is a dirty rat who is sneaking his way into Beacon, stealing a spot from someone more deserving. But will he remain such or grow into an actual hero?**

 **Only time will tell. Oh, and chapters too.**

 **Read and Review, folks. Your interest keeps me interested.**


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